Small Business - Windows Backup & AV Questions

[HaX]

Hi there,

I have a friend who owns a small business. His network consists of 15 XP client PCs, and a Server running SBS 2003. It was installed (and initially supported) by a company specialising in small business IT solutions.

I was initially drafted in, after they had been complaining of slow internet access and their IT solutions provider wasn't interested in helping them. When I arrived onsite, I was able to quickly diagnose and resolve the issue, which turned out to be a DNS configuration issue on their server.


While I was there, I had a quick look on the server and noticed that the backups hadn't run successfully for about two weeks. They use the inbuilt Windows Backup Utility. I confirmed with them that they had been changing tapes etc.

I have absolutely no idea about the windows backup util, everywhere I have worked has had either a dedicated backup/restore team, or used a 3rd party product. A quick google hasn't yielded any positive results about this; could anyone advise what the error below means.

27/10/2009 23:00
-------------------------------
Date: 27/10/2009
Time: 23:00
User: SYSTEM
-------------------------------

Backup Runner started.
NTMS session started successfully.
EnumerateNtmsObject(NTMS_LIBRARY) succeeded.
Will enumerate on 3 media libraries found.
GetNtmsObjectInformation(NtmsLibraryInfo) succeeded.
GetNtmsObjectInformation(NtmsLibraryInfo) succeeded.
Found an enabled library.
InventoryNtmsLibrary(NtmsInventoryOmid) succeeded.
Identify Media completed
EnumerateNtmsObject(NTMS_PHYSICAL_MEDIA) succeeded.
Will enumerate on 0 media types found.
GetNtmsObjectInformation(NtmsLibraryInfo) succeeded.
Found an enabled library.
InventoryNtmsLibrary(NtmsInventoryOmid) succeeded.
Identify Media failed or was invalid.
EnumerateNtmsObject(NTMS_PHYSICAL_MEDIA) succeeded.
Will enumerate on 0 media types found.
Unable to detect tape drive or tape media.
GetTapeMediaPoolName failed. (0x80070458)
GetBackupDestination failed. (0x80070458)
LaunchNTBackup failed. (0x80070458)
NTBackup finished the backup with errors.

For more information about failed backups, see the article on troubleshooting your backup at the following Web page: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=18414

Backup ended at 27 October 2009 23:00
Backup error finished with error code 0X80070458.

In addition to this, they have also had a virus outbreak and their domain is now blacklisted with hotmail and backscatterer as a source of spam. I presume that this will be lifted after a few weeks of no spam/virus emails being sent from their mail server?

They're also running AVG Free and Network Edition on a number of different PCs. Normally I'm a strong advocate of AVG, however having seen how poorly it has coped with the virus outbreak they had, my opinion has swung slightly.
,
Their licensed copies of AVG are about to expire so it's time to either renew the licenses or move to another product.

My personal feeling is that, as much as I hate to admit it, a move to McAfee is probably the best option. Having experience of using it in both corporate and home PC environments, the Heuristics and detection rates seem far better than those in AVG.

Please advise of your opinions regarding the AV situation and how to proceed with Windows Backup.

I have spent most of my career working in dedicated 2nd/3rd line support roles as part of a large team, so it is quite daunting having the sole responsibility of this companies IT environment!

 

[HaX]

Hi there,

Thanks for the replies. I will get on with this when I visit them tomorrow evening after I've finished work.

Bizarrely enough, despite running SBS 2003, they are not using Exhange, they are using Outlook Express with POP3 mailboxes hosted by their IT Solutions provider.

It seems very much like a cowboy implemenation, and I am keen to make sure that I am not associated too closely with it in case it all goes wrong. To top it all off, they have various 3rd party supplied applications which have databases and services hosted on the server, so it is like walking on egg shells for fear of upsetting them.

There is absolutely no documenation regarding their setup, I don't even have the credentials of their router, so I can't see the logs to identify where on the network the virus/spam traffic is eminating from.

I had already been on mxtolbox, the results from which revealed they are only blacklisted with backscatterer, who charge 50 euros to remove you from their list. By default records are automatically removed after 4 weeks of no virus/spam traffic being sent from your domain.

I have been in a non-tech service management role for the last 8-9 months, and have found that a lot of my tech skills have gone downhill at an alarming rate

I got MCSA:Messaging certified last year, and have found that I've forgotten a heck of a lot of what I picked up, both from work and studying! I must have a really poor memory


Cheers

HaX

 

[HaX]

Hi Hax
Ok, the backup log shows that the Windows NT Backup application has failed to start correctly. If your taking over this system, first thing I would do would be to re-run the Backup Configuration Wizard and start a backup manually once it's completed.

If this fails, stop the Removable Media Service and Delete the files in the NTMS Data directory (%systemroot%\system32\NTMSData), and Re-start the Removable Media Service. Then try a manual backup again.

Also, if you have never administrated a SBS box - 3 rules to stick too.
1) Run the Wizards
2) Use the Wizards
3) USE THE WIZARDS!!!
I would also re-run the Internet Connection Wizard, this will setup all the DNS and forwarders correctly - if they have ISA, it will also create the ISA rule CORRECTLY!

With regards to the AV - Get rid of the AVG products; AVG free is not licensed for Commercial use. What ever AV product you go for, make sure it's an SBS version, as this will also support the Exchange Server.

Hope this helps

Rob

Hi Rob,

I attempted backup the entire server using the "Backup entire server" button on the SBS server management screen, using a fresh tape.

This appeared to complete in under 15 minutes without error... Are tape drives really that quick?

Out of interest, once I've written to a tape, is there anyway to remove it from the library and to have it effectively treated as a fresh tape again?

 

[HaX]

Hi Rob,

Thans for the help so far. The Server is using a HP DAT 72 tapedrive. I have purchased a cleaning tape, and have inserted it into the tape drive. It seems to use it for a few minutes, before spitting it out again.

The cleaning tape does not appear to get recognised in Removable Storage Manager - it just runs for about a minute and then ejects.

Despite having run the tape a number of times, when I try to do a SBS backup to tape, I get the 0X80070458 error in the backup log. In addition to this, in the pending request logs (in Removeable Storage Manager), each time I run the backup, it says that the drive needs cleaning.

I have tried both old and new tapes, so am of the opinion that the drive is on its way out (unless I haven't run the cleaning tape right).

 

[HaX]

Thanks for the advice,

When running an SBS backup, do I still need to faff around with "freeing" media when it is detected?

Further to my previous questions, are there any online guides to using this confusing bit of software? I have googled it a fair bit, but have yet to find anything really useful.